NEET row: Kapil Sibal criticises PM Modi, says accept "corruption prevalent in country"

Kapil Sibal. File Pic

Amid the NEET row, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal has criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his "silence" on the issue. Sibal urged PM Modi to accept that "corruption is prevalent" in the country, reported news agency ANI.

The result of the NEET-UG 2024, declared on June 4, caused an uproar amid several issues- 1,500 students received grace marks, a high number of perfect scores, and allegations of a leaked question paper. Several petitions were filed in the Supreme Court and high courts by students seeking a re-test alleging irregularities and discrepancies. The SC has allowed retest of over 1,500 students who got grace marks.

"First of all, the Prime Minister should come in front of the people in Parliament and say that yes, we made a mistake, Corruption has been going on in the country for a long time and it is prevalent in every department. Until the government does not accept this matter, there will be no solution to this," Kapil Sibal said while speaking to ANI on Sunday from California.

"I remember that the Prime Minister had said that corruption in our ministries has been eradicated. So it seems that this (NEET) is not a case of corruption, this is a matter of goods and services," Sibal quipped. He further took a dig at the Prime Minister's "silence" over the NEET row and other issues like Manipur violence, reported ANI.

"I will remind the Prime Minister of what you said; if you see corruption taking place, then you must comment on it in some way or another. You always remain silent. Whether it is about Manipur, he remains silent or whether it is about terrorism, he remains silent. Terrorism will end, cash transactions will end, and corruption will also end. We are watching all this," he added, reported ANI.

Sibal, who is a former HRD minister, said that the matter of NEET does not come under the purview of the HRD ministry but is a matter of the Health Ministry.

"The Health Minister has not commented on this till date. The HRD minister, whatever he says, does not come to work. In a profession where we are going to make a student a doctor, if that student becomes a doctor by paying money then how will he practice medicine? What kind of doctor will he be?" he asked, reported ANI.

Several petitions were filed in the apex court seeking direction to recall NEET-UG 2024 results and to conduct the examination afresh, alleging paper leakage and malpractices in the test held on May 5.

The NEET-UG examination, conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA), paves the way for admission to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country.

On June 13, the NTA told the Supreme Court that the scorecards of 1563 candidates who got "grace marks" in the NEET-UG exam will be cancelled and the candidates will have a chance to reappear for the exam on June 23 and the results will be declared before June 30.

It further said that a committee has been constituted to review the results of over 1,563 candidates who were awarded "grace marks" to compensate for the loss of time suffered while appearing for NEET-UG. The Supreme Court will hear the petitions on July 8.

(With inputs from ANI)